Many, many years ago, I remember sitting beside my mom during one of her chemo treatments. She was always encouraging me to write down the stories we were living every day.
I told her, “Mom, I’m not a writer.”
She would smile and say, “Lisa, just write. Trust me on this one.”
So I did.
I wrote about the conversations we had, the lessons we learned, the hard days, the funny days, the miracles, and the moments I never thought I would share with anyone. Those pages eventually became books, including It’s Better Out Here and the journal that followed, inspired by our daily journaling together.
This week, after leaving a hospice visit, I received a message that absolutely touched my heart.
A young lady who had been encouraged by It’s Better Out Here started a study for a group of teenage girls to go through the book together. Each week, I get updates, pictures, and stories about what they are learning, the struggles they are overcoming, and the conversations they 
are having as they walk through the study.
I have been brought to tears more than once reading their messages.
When Mom and I were living those pages, neither of us could have imagined this. I certainly never dreamed that something written during one of the hardest seasons of my life would one day encourage a group of young women years later.
What a reminder that God never wastes a story.
So write it down. Journal the good, the bad, and the ugly. Share your story. You never know who needs it, 
how God will use it, or what seeds are being planted for the future.
In a few weeks, I get to travel to Oklahoma City with the therapy dogs and meet these incredible young women during their final week of the study. I couldn’t be more proud of them.
And I have a feeling my mom is smiling from heaven over this one.
Sometimes the seeds planted in one season bloom in another. And sometimes God lets you see the flowers.
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